Now let's talk about searching.  If you have already conducted some background information on your topic, you might have some keywords in mind to begin your search.  Use the process described here to generate a list of potential key terms to apply in a database.

1. Define your research question or topic.
   • Why? Understanding your topic before you dive into searching databases keeps you focused on your topic and less likely to get sidetracked by irrelevant material.
     • Example: How are the athletic skills of the Tarahumara tribe integrated within their social lives
2. Break it down.
   • Pick out the core concepts (usually nouns or noun phrases)
   • Tips: You want between 2-4 keywords. Avoid fluff words like impact and effect.
     • Why? Words such as impact are used all the time so you are more likely to get results that aren't relevant to your topic.
   • Example: Tarahumara, athletes, social
3. Identify synonyms for each core concept
   • Why? Computers aren't humans. They won't do any interpretations for you, which means they will spit out only what you put in
     • Additional Keywords: Running,  Rarmuri (another term for the tribe), superathletes, customs

View this brief overview of the library's websites and a couple of recommended resources for beginning anthropology research.

The video highlighted the following resources:

NKU's Article Search

The first resource linked above is found directly on the front page of the library's website.  You may search ALL Resources at one time, or break it down by certain types of information.  A few tips:

1. You will retrieve MANY results. A keyword search for Tarahumara yields nearly 20,000 sources.
2. You are searching the library's ENTIRE collection - or at least most of it. You are not focused on any one subject area
3. You will often retrieve MORE sources that Google Scholar.  Why?  Because this search is providing access to scholarly sources and non-scholarly sources, such as news and magazine articles.

Anthropology Plus

You may find what you need using the research tool above.  However, it can be helpful to go directly into a research tool that emphasizes information from a specific field.  A few tips for Anthropology Plus:

1. A search for Tarahumara yields about 300 results.  This is significantly fewer than our search above!
2. This tool will primarily retrieve articles from scholarly journals (peer-reviewed).  However, you will come across some other types of sources, including book titles.